chapter 3

Plan Override was on the way whether the other Neonates approved or not, for they didn't have to endure the things Xyrus and Xiera was witnessing. The carnage that was taking place on Death Island alone was call for plan Override. It was only becoming worst as the murder count and human trafficking became disturbingly high as the days passed. "NO MORE!" Xyrus had it, he took 20 men with him and headed up top to eliminate the immediate threat. Xiera practiced her best logic and persuasion tactics on her cousin, but with little avail. He was headstrong as his father John, and could no longer stand idly by as these surface scavengers hailed havoc upon the island. The 20 men Xyrus took with him were of the most elite world forces, men who had been conditioned as the Neonates themselves in combat. These men were no ordinary men either, they each had superior strength and conditioning, so Xyrus was more than confident that Plan Overide would be a success.As Xyrus and his 20 men reached the surface, they immediately mounted motor bikes that had been modified with weapons that could take down a Sherman tank if need be. All the men were dressed in a special camouflage outfit that aided in them in this highly covert mission to remove the threat that was bleeding the island of it's people. The surface scavengers were mainly by Central Park and the Southern part of the Island where they bartered people for weapons and food off of the Piers with other Scavengers. To be as effective as possible given Xyrus only had 20 men with him, he commanded each man hold their fire unless completely necessary so to keep from wasting unnecessary ammunition. The men broke up in teams of 7. Xyrus led Alpha team, Lucius led Bravo team, and Lee led Charlie team. Charlie team reported a big celebration going on in the middle of Central Park, so team Bravo moved in, they broke up what seemed to be the surface scavengers main form of entertainment, making people who lacked any skill or purpose, and had been purged from their cities to fight one another to the death. Code Black, was in play, which meant silent kill. The men took out the outer perimeter, but making it to the center of it all was going to be quite a task calling attention to themselves due to the huge stadium lights that made it seem as bright as day. "All guards in the outer perimeter are down, Xyrus what next?" reported Bravo team. "Alpha going to the center, out!" replied Xyrus. "Xyrus, don't," Xiera demanded in a firm feminine tone. "Xyrus do you hear me?" she shouted, but good old Xyrus was hell bent on ending this, and didn't want to take risk losing any of his own people. "Xyrus is is in the center, he's about to fight!" "You all want to see a fight do you?" Well I will give you 1 and 1 Last fight, and then we will close this down, as your park is surrounded by over hundred of my Special Forces, so if you're innocent, you've got nothing to worry, but if you're part of the Killings, then you're judgement day has come." Xyrus announced in the middle of what seemed similar to that of a fighting ring. The people roared, and shouted "Kill Him!" The fair fight Xyrus thought he'd have was as fictitious as his claim. Over 10 men with weapons came at Xyrus, perhaps he felt bad about his role in all of this, that he permitted the first few to get in some licks before he detached them from the weapons they were holding by amputating each of their hands. The crowd demanded to see Xyrus fall, as another dozen men came at him, this time with hand guns. With the speed of cat, Xyrus leaped in the air dropping a smoke bomb as he utilized his suit's stealth mode, and fell behind the group of men detaching them from their weapons once again. The blades were part of his gloves and elbows so with each strike he ripped and tore his attacker in shreds. Xyrus had yet to use any of his hi-tech hardware that would easily end his opponents plight for blood, but felt it gave him an unfair advantage given his advanced training. Of course one could argue it was because he'd been waiting for such a day to use his unique skill set instead. Nevertheless, the second set of armed men didn't so much as leave a mark on Xyrus. What appeared to be the head council or leader of these scavengers decided to make an appearance from an overlooking Bleacher, the crowd separated as a man surrounded by soldiers came down the bleachers. These men were clearly no regular civilian but rather of military background. Each men had tethered uniforms, armed with M16 riffles coming towards Xyrus."Alpha, move in!" Xyrus commanded over his ear piece radio. And within seconds, 6 Cycles pulled in front of Xyrus as the group of armed men stopped in their tracks as each had red dots from Alpha team's cycle's infrared guns who took their rightful aim at each approaching man's chest. "What do you want?" Commanded the Leader from behind his men whom all looked as if they were already dead. "The Island back and order, but for now, we can begin by your men putting their weapons down, and everyone remaining in their seats, for if not, no one will be making it out of here," replied Xyrus. "He's bluffing, he hasn't 100 men, he's mad I tell you, now I will tell you what will happen here, you and your friends will get on your shiny little bikes and ride off, wait, NO, in fact you have lost your right to them, you will actually lay down your weapons, remove yourself from my bikes, and become my slaves," replied the leader with a massive amount of crowd cheering in the background. The faces on the soldiers was not of men ready to die, but of scared men who had no choice but to do as he commanded. Due to the power of this man, many people seemed to follow him out of fear of what he would do to their families. Xyrus, didn't want to back down, he thought for a second, knowing that his words would have leave behind a large amount of blood on his hands. "OK, I will give every person here the opportunity to leave their seats and meet my men in the outer perimeter where they will be taken to safety, but if you remain, you will be dealt with zero tolerance and with the same judgement as this Dead Man who speaks to me now."People began to rise up and leave their seats when the Leader shouted, "Sit and Die honorably with me, leave and so help me, as long as I've got air in my lungs, each of you and your families will be hunted, raped, and sold as slaves!" "Death is guaranteed to you right now if you remain in your seats, that I can promise you, but if you leave, your lives will be your own, and you'll finally be free of this tyrant!" shouted Xyrus over the leader. "Enough talk, tonight we dance in the belly of the beast, FIRE!!!" shouts the Leader. As soon as his soldiers began shooting the cycles let off about 10 rounds into each soldier's chest. Many of them had bullet proof vests but nothing strong enough to withhold the caliber of these special bullets. The Leader took cover behind his men as he made his way towards Xyrus with a huge Ax. Xyurs quickly side stepped the attack and quickly kicked the leader's knee, ribs, and then went up top with a crescent kick to the side of his face, and then repeatedly connected blows to his body and face. The speed of his attack was unprecedented, The crowd dispersed into what looked like a herd of cattle, the remaining men of the leader was ordered to not let anyone leave, so the commenced firing upon those who fled. The remainder of the crowd loyal to the leader took down 4 of Alpha team. The remaining two, stood back to back fending off the attack of a angry mob, when suddenly 14 cycles began splicing through bodies like a hot knife through butter. Xyrus grabbed the motionless body of the Leader, took him by the face and made him watch as his people fell to the cycles' non-stop rounds of bullets. The leader, with all the energy he had left, grinned, laughed, and said, "just you wait and see what's coming." With that, Xyrus snapped his neck in one sharp motion of his torso. The lifeless body of whom he believed to be the leader of the Surface Scavengers fell to the ground. The sound of bullets fell silent as the thuds of each body hit the ground to never rise up ever again. Xyrus fell to his knees in disgust at the carnage that he'd left behind, feeling torn between the plan and his humanity. TO BE CONTINUED...

chapter 2

The chaos hit like no one could have imagined. The lives of people were being traded for food, sex, and weapons. What was left from the over thrown governments of the super powers, attempted to produce a world currency, but it was too late. It was like wolves getting a taste of blood for the very first time, it was no stopping them. People became no different than savages. Survival of the fittest had became the one true mantra. No one was truly safe from the famine or human trade that was occurring through out all major cities. After all was said and done the Neonates had no other choice but to execute their contingency plan for such madness. The planning that went into this was unlike anything else. This plan was passed down from each of the Neonate's grandparents right down to the date of execution of Plan Override. The followers of the Neonates fell by the thousands once the human trade assumed it's place as the most valuable of all commodities. It took longer than anticipated for people to turn on one another, and for them to over throw the Barter Banks. Farms were over run, and Farmer's families held hostage so they can continue producing food. Teachers were over thrown from their control of their cities by tyrants who had joined forces. No one group was as organized like the one that took over the Island of Manhattan, which was now known to many as Death Island thanks to the amount of bodies that surrounded it. The Hoard of Scavengers who over took it purposely threw the bodies into the Hudson to scare off any other groups thinking about crossing over to Death Island. Each of them had groups of men at any given time guarding the bridges and tunnels while their women held families as hostages by night.The Neonates were all hand selected for their rightful place in the Zero Experiment, knowing that of the 8, their lives all lead to this ultimate purpose that took two generations of Neonates to put into place. Each Neonate began as children, at the young age of 8, they each were top of their class, and excelled in multiple martial arts, military combat, and high levels of what was known as techno warfare, hence the Zero Experiment. The 8 families knew dating back to the original members that the loss would be great to reset the world to a new order, and take back the very freedom that they believed should be afforded to those who deserved it. After the Great Depression, and needless wars, the Neonates became firm in their beliefs and steadfast in their planning. The 8 families were all survived by the present Neonates who each didn't have families, hence allowing them to not have any distractions and to have left zero time for anything else outside of training. Each of the 8 Neonates had their own circle of trust in which they sought council with. Many of them were family members, siblings, and their teachers. The entire Neonate community consisted of just under 350 people. Each of the families were spread through out the world on different continents, except 2 who were cousins, Xyrus and Xiera. They were both bunkered below the subways in Manhattan right below Wall Street. This was considered control command, yet it was now home to the Surface Savages as they often referred to them as.Xyrus and Xiera were the only two of the Neonates to be blood relatives which is mainly because they were the Grandson and Granddaughter of the 2 founding members whom were brothers. Xiera was not meant to be one of the Neonates as she was the only women out of the 8, but due to her being the very best at techno warfare out of the others, she was clearly the best choice over her brother who was born with birth defects that eliminated him from becoming one of the 8. Jacob and Liam, the founding members were of the highest respected in their time, and with both men having served their country as scientists they soon saw the outcome ahead that they felt could only be deterred by an extreme experiment that meant losing it all. They knew this could not be had on their own, so they took on others within their inner circle, and once the 8 families concurred that all was not to be done within their lifetime, they began to condition their children in all areas of combat, and to the highest level of technology. John and Paul were then left to carry out their father's plans for the Zero Experiment along with the other 6 Neonate decedents. John being one of the most smartest of all was able to condition Xyrus and Xiera well into his 80's before he passed. Xyrus and Xierra were both the senior Neonates, and found themselves needing to execute the next phase of the Zero Experiment so that they can bring order back to their Island. No one could prepare them for what they would have to do next. To Be Continued...

chapter 1

It was fall of 2018 when a very wealthy tech savvy activist group decided to set us all back to zero. We're talking about the whole world had zero debt, as well as zero wealth. The items you owned when you bought it, rented it, leased it, was now yours free and clear. The idea of the group was to see how well their fellow upper class would do in a world with zero debt and zero wealth. The chaos was yet to be realized, for people were so much in debt that they never paid mind to the fact that just as all their debt went back to zero, so did their bank accounts. Thanks to a time where no one kept a checking balance and records were kept solely on computers, but when the group later identified as the Neonates took responsibility for erasing the world's financial records, countries were at such a loss as to how to recover that they couldn't focus on how to respond to the threat. The Neonates controlled all the financial data, and made it very clear that their intent is to fix the world destroyed by politics and greed. The idea began to become embraced by their followers, and some countries ( the ones in most debt ) were almost relieved and offered refuge to the Neonates whose identities and whereabouts was yet to be discovered.As the days passed and it became clear that the world we all once new had literally been turned on it's head and shaken to the point where no one really knew their place. The hierarchy had been torn, and with this came purging, people who no longer were accepted or required were asked to leave their cities. Politicians, lawyers, and any other white collar worker that was unwilling to embrace the new world. The Neonates had became impressed with how well the world was evolving with everyone being back to Zero. It was obvious that most of the prosperous world was living well beyond their means, so the opportunity to set it all back to zero was a blessing for more than not. Of course those in power had no financial hold of their military or police, and therefore couldn't bully themselves out of the purge. Small groups of Neonate Followers began to form, and create barter banks, and soon enough anyone with a skill became the most sought out person. Anyone in the medical field was held in the most highest regard, along with farmers. The days of processed food had come to an end, and the days of famine seemed to be inevitable, yet somehow people all were helping one another in a way that the world had never experienced. The Neonates had quickly realized that their experiment would have to be permanent, for the world seemed better off with everyone being back to zero. Now that money was no longer, and bartering was the new currency of the world, Teachers began to rule their cities as they were the only ones who could teach the unskilled people who no longer knew their place in a non-monetary world. Those who had been forever stuck in the middle had now assumed a much higher role in the new world. Violence was kept at bay, but still pose a problem in many parts of the world. As time passed, desperate countries with little to no resources bartered their weapons of mass destruction, as did many of the inner city gang members. Even drugs were filtered out of cities thanks to their being no place for it in a non-monetary world. Down time became filled with working fields, and the building of more world barter banks. In a matter of 7 months, the world had seemed more united. The post zero world was unlike anything the Neonates could've ever imagined until it happened. To Be Continued....